Highlands mayor to town: We will rebuild

Nov. 4, 2012

James Moran (left), William Grig and Alexia Ion of Highlands attend a town hall meeting. / Robert Ward / Staff Photographer

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HIGHLANDS — As cleanup efforts continued and people lined up for supplies, Mayor Frank Nolan assured residents Saturday that the borough will rebound from its devastation following Hurricane Sandy.

“It’s going to be a one- to two-year process, but we’re going to rebuild and we’ll make Highlands better than ever,” he said during a meeting with residents at a packed Highlands Elementary School gymnasium. “As far as I’m concerned, this is a bad day in our history and now it’s time for a new beginning

Nolan said 1,200 to 1,300 residents were affected by major storm surge flooding — in some parts as high as 12 feet — and their residences near Sandy Hook Bay are “unlivable.” Borough schools will remain closed through the coming week while Henry Hudson High School is used as a shelter.

“We have about 100 people there now but we expect that number will grow," he said.

Power within the borough remained out on Saturday, as municipal workers did their best to clean up fallen trees and limbs, said borough engineer Dale Leubner.

“I’ve seen JCP&L trucks around town, but they’re kind of just twiddling their thumbs, saying there are too many trees in the way,” Leubner said.

Nolan said most of the municipality buildings sustained major water damage and 14 downtown restaurants were “wiped out.” Fortunately, said borough council president Rebecca Kane, no fatalities had been reported as of Saturday.

“I’ve lived here my entire life and it breaks my heart to see this kind of suffering and damage,” Kane said. “This definitely is a hurdle in front of us. But now, we’re going to get the attention we need and get through this together.”

But even as FEMA officials and American Red Cross volunteers began showing up Saturday, some residents were skeptical about the level of attention they were going to receive. In fact, one resident, Kathy Self, of Shrewsbury Avenue, said she and her family already had been denied assistance by FEMA after she filed her claim on Wednesday.

“A man from FEMA came to my house Friday and assessed our damage, and he wasn’t very nice about it,” she said. “I called this morning and got a recorded message saying we were denied, that we did not qualify for assistance.”

One FEMA representative, Jack Sloan, who addressed the crowd at the school earlier, promised Self that he’d “look into” her claim to see if it can be changed somehow.

“My husband’s business was destroyed as well, and now we have no income,” Self said. “We need help. But if this is an example of the help we’re going to get — we were denied on the first day — then all (President Barack) Obama and (Gov. Chris) Christie said the other day was a bunch of lies, just political bull.”